Rep. Stephanie A. Kifowit
Filed: 3/22/2024
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| 1 | AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 4934 | ||||||
| 2 | AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 4934 by replacing | ||||||
| 3 | everything after the enacting clause with the following:
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| 4 | "Section 5. The Cemetery Protection Act is amended by | ||||||
| 5 | changing Sections .01 and 1 and by adding Section 17 as | ||||||
| 6 | follows:
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| 7 | (765 ILCS 835/.01) (from Ch. 21, par. 14.01) | ||||||
| 8 | Sec. .01. For the purposes of this Act, the term: | ||||||
| 9 | "Cemetery authority" means an individual or legal entity | ||||||
| 10 | that owns or controls cemetery lands or property. | ||||||
| 11 | "Community mausoleum" means a mausoleum owned and operated | ||||||
| 12 | by a cemetery authority that contains multiple entombment | ||||||
| 13 | rights sold to the public. | ||||||
| 14 | "Veteran" means a person who has served as a member of the | ||||||
| 15 | armed forces of the United States, the Illinois National | ||||||
| 16 | Guard, or a reserve component of the armed forces of the United | ||||||
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| 1 | States and has been buried in a grave that is more than 100 | ||||||
| 2 | years old. | ||||||
| 3 | "Veterans' organization" means an organization comprised | ||||||
| 4 | of members of which substantially all are individuals who are | ||||||
| 5 | veterans or spouses, widows, or widowers of veterans, the | ||||||
| 6 | primary purpose of which is to promote the welfare of its | ||||||
| 7 | members and to provide assistance to the general public in | ||||||
| 8 | such a way as to confer a public benefit. | ||||||
| 9 | (Source: P.A. 96-863, eff. 3-1-10; 97-679, eff. 2-6-12.)
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| 10 | (765 ILCS 835/1) (from Ch. 21, par. 15) | ||||||
| 11 | Sec. 1. (a) Any person who acts without proper legal | ||||||
| 12 | authority and who willfully and knowingly destroys or damages | ||||||
| 13 | the remains of a deceased human being or who desecrates human | ||||||
| 14 | remains is guilty of a Class 3 felony. | ||||||
| 15 | (a-5) Any person who acts without proper legal authority | ||||||
| 16 | and who willfully and knowingly removes any portion of the | ||||||
| 17 | remains of a deceased human being from a burial ground where | ||||||
| 18 | skeletal remains are buried or from a grave, crypt, vault, | ||||||
| 19 | mausoleum, or other repository of human remains is guilty of a | ||||||
| 20 | Class 4 felony. | ||||||
| 21 | (b) Any person who acts without proper legal authority and | ||||||
| 22 | who willfully and knowingly: | ||||||
| 23 | (1) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a burial | ||||||
| 24 | ground where skeletal remains are buried or a grave, | ||||||
| 25 | crypt, vault, mausoleum, or other repository of human | ||||||
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| 1 | remains; | ||||||
| 2 | (2) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a park or | ||||||
| 3 | other area clearly designated to preserve and perpetuate | ||||||
| 4 | the memory of a deceased person or group of persons; | ||||||
| 5 | (3) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates plants, | ||||||
| 6 | trees, shrubs, or flowers located upon or around a | ||||||
| 7 | repository for human remains or within a human graveyard | ||||||
| 8 | or cemetery; or | ||||||
| 9 | (4) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a fence, | ||||||
| 10 | rail, curb, or other structure of a similar nature | ||||||
| 11 | intended for the protection or for the ornamentation of | ||||||
| 12 | any tomb, monument, gravestone, or other structure of like | ||||||
| 13 | character; | ||||||
| 14 | is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor if the amount of the damage | ||||||
| 15 | is less than $500, a Class 4 felony if the amount of the damage | ||||||
| 16 | is at least $500 and less than $10,000, a Class 3 felony if the | ||||||
| 17 | amount of the damage is at least $10,000 and less than | ||||||
| 18 | $100,000, or a Class 2 felony if the damage is $100,000 or more | ||||||
| 19 | and shall provide restitution to the cemetery authority or | ||||||
| 20 | property owner for the amount of any damage caused. | ||||||
| 21 | (b-5) Any person who acts without proper legal authority | ||||||
| 22 | and who willfully and knowingly defaces, vandalizes, injures, | ||||||
| 23 | or removes a gravestone or other memorial, monument, or marker | ||||||
| 24 | commemorating a deceased person or group of persons, whether | ||||||
| 25 | located within or outside of a recognized cemetery, memorial | ||||||
| 26 | park, or battlefield is guilty of a Class 4 felony for damaging | ||||||
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| 1 | at least one but no more than 4 gravestones, a Class 3 felony | ||||||
| 2 | for damaging at least 5 but no more than 10 gravestones, or a | ||||||
| 3 | Class 2 felony for damaging more than 10 gravestones and shall | ||||||
| 4 | provide restitution to the cemetery authority or property | ||||||
| 5 | owner for the amount of any damage caused. | ||||||
| 6 | (b-7) Any person who acts without proper legal authority | ||||||
| 7 | and who willfully and knowingly removes with the intent to | ||||||
| 8 | resell a gravestone or other memorial, monument, or marker | ||||||
| 9 | commemorating a deceased person or group of persons, whether | ||||||
| 10 | located within or outside a recognized cemetery, memorial | ||||||
| 11 | park, or battlefield, is guilty of a Class 2 felony. | ||||||
| 12 | (c) The provisions of this Section shall not apply to the | ||||||
| 13 | removal or unavoidable breakage or injury by a cemetery | ||||||
| 14 | authority of anything placed in or upon any portion of its | ||||||
| 15 | cemetery in violation of any of the rules and regulations of | ||||||
| 16 | the cemetery authority, nor to the removal of anything placed | ||||||
| 17 | in the cemetery by or with the consent of the cemetery | ||||||
| 18 | authority that in the judgment of the cemetery authority has | ||||||
| 19 | become wrecked, unsightly, or dilapidated, nor to the removal, | ||||||
| 20 | replacement, or installation of a gravestone or other | ||||||
| 21 | memorial, monument, or marker commemorating a veteran pursuant | ||||||
| 22 | to Section 17 of this Act. | ||||||
| 23 | (d) If an unemancipated minor is found guilty of violating | ||||||
| 24 | any of the provisions of subsection (b) of this Section and is | ||||||
| 25 | unable to provide restitution to the cemetery authority or | ||||||
| 26 | property owner, the parents or legal guardians of that minor | ||||||
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| 1 | shall provide restitution to the cemetery authority or | ||||||
| 2 | property owner for the amount of any damage caused, up to the | ||||||
| 3 | total amount allowed under the Parental Responsibility Law. | ||||||
| 4 | (d-5) Any person who commits any of the following: | ||||||
| 5 | (1) any unauthorized, non-related third party or | ||||||
| 6 | person who enters any sheds, crematories, or employee | ||||||
| 7 | areas; | ||||||
| 8 | (2) any non-cemetery personnel who solicits cemetery | ||||||
| 9 | mourners or funeral directors on the grounds or in the | ||||||
| 10 | offices or chapels of a cemetery before, during, or after | ||||||
| 11 | a burial; | ||||||
| 12 | (3) any person who harasses or threatens any employee | ||||||
| 13 | of a cemetery on cemetery grounds; or | ||||||
| 14 | (4) any unauthorized person who removes, destroys, or | ||||||
| 15 | disturbs any cemetery devices or property placed for | ||||||
| 16 | safety of visitors and cemetery employees; | ||||||
| 17 | is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor for the first offense and of | ||||||
| 18 | a Class 4 felony for a second or subsequent offense. | ||||||
| 19 | (e) Any person who shall hunt, shoot or discharge any gun, | ||||||
| 20 | pistol or other missile, within the limits of any cemetery, or | ||||||
| 21 | shall cause any shot or missile to be discharged into or over | ||||||
| 22 | any portion thereof, or shall violate any of the rules made and | ||||||
| 23 | established by the board of directors of such cemetery, for | ||||||
| 24 | the protection or government thereof, is guilty of a Class C | ||||||
| 25 | misdemeanor. | ||||||
| 26 | (f) Any person who knowingly enters or knowingly remains | ||||||
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| 1 | upon the premises of a public or private cemetery without | ||||||
| 2 | authorization during hours that the cemetery is posted as | ||||||
| 3 | closed to the public is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. | ||||||
| 4 | (g) All fines when recovered, shall be paid over by the | ||||||
| 5 | court or officer receiving the same to the cemetery authority | ||||||
| 6 | and be applied, as far as possible in repairing the injury, if | ||||||
| 7 | any, caused by such offense. Provided, nothing contained in | ||||||
| 8 | this Act shall deprive such cemetery authority or the owner of | ||||||
| 9 | any interment, entombment, or inurnment right or monument from | ||||||
| 10 | maintaining an action for the recovery of damages caused by | ||||||
| 11 | any injury caused by a violation of the provisions of this Act, | ||||||
| 12 | or of the rules established by the board of directors of such | ||||||
| 13 | cemetery authority. Nothing in this Section shall be construed | ||||||
| 14 | to prohibit the discharge of firearms loaded with blank | ||||||
| 15 | ammunition as part of any funeral, any memorial observance or | ||||||
| 16 | any other patriotic or military ceremony. | ||||||
| 17 | (Source: P.A. 95-331, eff. 8-21-07; 96-863, eff. 3-1-10.)
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| 18 | (765 ILCS 835/17 new) | ||||||
| 19 | Sec. 17. Memorialization of veteran remains. | ||||||
| 20 | (a) If a veterans' organization has identified human | ||||||
| 21 | remains of a veteran that are more than 100 years old and | ||||||
| 22 | wishes to have a marker placed to designate the grave as that | ||||||
| 23 | of a veteran, a cemetery authority may allow memorialization | ||||||
| 24 | without permission of the decedent's heirs under this Section. | ||||||
| 25 | The marker may be for a previously unmarked grave or serve as a | ||||||
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| 1 | replacement of or repair to an existing damaged marker. All | ||||||
| 2 | costs for memorialization under this Section, including the | ||||||
| 3 | marker, its installation, and any removal of or repair to a | ||||||
| 4 | previous marker that is damaged, shall be entirely borne by | ||||||
| 5 | the veterans' organization. In no event shall the human | ||||||
| 6 | remains be disturbed. | ||||||
| 7 | (b) The memorialization and its installation, and any | ||||||
| 8 | removal of or repair to a damaged marker, may only take place | ||||||
| 9 | with the permission of the involved cemetery authority and in | ||||||
| 10 | compliance with the rules and regulations and any collective | ||||||
| 11 | bargaining agreement of the involved cemetery. | ||||||
| 12 | (c) Before any memorialization under this Section may take | ||||||
| 13 | place, the veterans' organization must first make a good faith | ||||||
| 14 | effort to contact the decedent's next of kin, and if there is | ||||||
| 15 | no response within 120 days, the process may proceed. The | ||||||
| 16 | veterans' organization shall provide the cemetery authority | ||||||
| 17 | with a notarized statement detailing its efforts to identify | ||||||
| 18 | and contact the next of kin and the lack of response thereto, | ||||||
| 19 | which statement may be made a part of the cemetery records. | ||||||
| 20 | (d) If any heir of a decedent later objects to a | ||||||
| 21 | memorialization made under this Section, the sole remedy shall | ||||||
| 22 | be the removal of the involved marker at the expense of the | ||||||
| 23 | involved veterans' organization. If the veterans' organization | ||||||
| 24 | no longer exists or is without funds, removal shall be at the | ||||||
| 25 | expense of the heir. In no event shall there be monetary | ||||||
| 26 | damages, or any other equitable relief or penalties, against | ||||||
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